The Muslim man in America arrested for blasphemy against the state’s Christian constitution, the governor who defended the man’s right to freedom of religion, and then the dramatic gunning down of the governor by a well-armed redneck with a “Jesus Is Alive” tattoo.

Whose side were you on? Did you defend the redneck with the tattoo, take to social media on the day he was sent to the electric chair to call him a martyr to Christianity?

"A dark day in the history of Pakistan; the day Ghazi Mumtaz was wrongfully executed and martyred in the way of Allah, when he did what he did in honour of the Prophet"

Imam Muhammed Asim Hussain, from Yorkshire

How did you feel when you read of the Church of England vicar who praised the murderer, justified his actions and even boasted about attending his funeral?

All these events actually happened. In a way.

Except it was a Christian woman in Pakistan, Asia Bibi, who was arrested and sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy. It was a Muslim governor, Salmaan Taseer, who came to her defence and called for the country’s absurd and medieval blasphemy laws to be reviewed.

At that point the rest of the world might have shrugged its shoulders at yet another depressing tale of Third World barbarism, a parochial and violent dispute between people in a faraway country of which we know little.

Except that some of those who regard Qadri as a Muslim martyr and hero are not only British, but are senior leaders of the Muslim community here.

Supporters of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri protest, after a court sentenced him to death, in Lahore, Pakistan Photo: EPA

Muhammed Asim Hussain is an Imam from Bradford. His Facebook page has been “liked” nearly 136,000 times. On the day of Qadri’s execution he told his followers: “A dark day in the history of Pakistan; the day Ghazi Mumtaz was wrongfully executed and martyred in the way of Allah, when he did what he did in honour of the Prophet.”

The thread of comments below this baffling statement contains more than a few from Muslims representing what must surely be the more mainstream view of these events among British Muslims: condemning the atrocity of the governor’s murder as an un-Muslim act of violence against democracy. Yet those who seek to defend the behaviour of the murderer do so without apparent shame or hesitancy.

A dark day in the history of Pakistan; the day Ghazi Mumtaz was wrongfully executed and martyred in the way of Allah,...

Muhammad Masood Qadiri, who presents a weekly programme on Ummah TV, available via Sky TV, told his Facebook followers: “The Great Hero of Islam Ghazi Mumtaz Hussain Qadiri has been martyred.” He then announced he would fly to Pakistan that day to attend the funeral.

The vast majority – ordinary, moderate British Muslims – must be tired by now of having to roll their eyes heavenwards when behaviour like this manifests itself publicly. They, or their parents before them, left Pakistan, after all, because the UK offered them and their families a better, more civilized life, free from the superstition, bigotry, ignorance and poverty of their former homeland. At a time when Muslims face greater scrutiny and hostility than ever before, due to the actions of terrorists and psychopaths claiming Allah as their motivation, the last thing they need is their own community leaders spouting such arrant, offensive and arguably criminal nonsense.

Yet spout it they do, and will continue to, until they are made accountable and removed from their positions of authority. Hats off to those in the Muslim community who bravely take to the comments threads to make the case for sensible, modern, peaceful Islam, in the face of some pretty intense abuse from their co-religionists.

"If these events had occurred as I originally reported at the start of this column, we would expect – and would get – wall-to-wall coverage of the atrocity"

The sincere and courageous efforts made by the Muslim majority to make integration into UK society work are time and again holed below the waterline by the likes of Muhammed Asim Hussain and Muhammad Masood Qadiri – two gifts, surely, to those on the far Right looking out for opportunities to whip up Islamophobia for their own political ends. When such “scholars” seek to justify vigilante killings in the name of God and state executions of those who proclaim a different faith, albeit in a foreign country, what does that say about their level of respect for their own country and society?

If these events had occurred as I originally reported at the start of this column, we would expect – and would get – wall-to-wall coverage of the atrocity, widespread condemnation of our misguided clergyman, and ridicule of those who sought to attach the term “martyr” to a cold-blooded killer.

The tragic sequence of events in Pakistan – the appalling injustice of sending a woman to the gallows for “blasphemy”, the murder of her protector, the lionisation of the protector’s vile murderer – these events need to be condemned vociferously and without compromise. By everyone. Because that's what being British means.

After all that has occurred, it’s easy to forget that the woman whose plight sparked off these events in the first place, Asia Bibi, remains on death row. A court in Lahore will decide her fate on March 26.